US 46 should be a road less traveled if you are looking for a fun road trip in NJ
People always ask how we come up with some of the ideas to do things and keep ourselves occupied. Well sometimes we happen to see a story or a reel someone else posted on the internet and steal the idea, and sometimes we just pick it out of our…
Anyway it was a cold, very cold, and blustery day and we really didn’t want to venture outside. So…ROAD TRIP! Well, sort of. We decided to take a ride in the car along a US highway that goes from one border of New Jersey to the other, one with some history behind it. We had driven various parts of US 46 on our way to specific destinations, but never the entire route. So we figured we would head out and spend the time seeing what we can see along the 75-mile thoroughfare. I mean, how long could it take?
We got going with our trek a little later than we had hoped. Just like everyone else, when the cold weather sets in, and the temps drop big-time, we gotta fill the tires with some air. It seemed like everyone was doing the same thing. Wawa has free air at almost all of their locations. And we were getting coffee so that’s where we figured we would top off the tire pressures.
The standard psi for the tires on Melissa’s SUV is 33. One tire was at 26 and the alert was on. So I waited and waited for one of the two air compressors at our usual Wawa. When I finally got to use one, I discovered it wasn’t working. That tire went from 26 to 8. Now we had a flat tire.
The person using the other compressor allowed me to quickly use it and pump the tire back up. So now that one was at 33 but the rest were slightly low. And now the line had gotten even longer. We’ll finish up at another place. Good luck! We ended up going to three Wawa stores and they were all with faulty air compressors that were releasing air instead of filling it. And we went to two gas stations and they required $1.50 in quarters. Who has quarters in the car these days?
I’ve had enough.
US 46 begins at the Delaware Water Gap at the west end and terminates in Fort Lee on the east side if you are traveling left to right across your map of the United States. And that’s just what we decided to do.
We drove up the fast route – Garden State Parkway north, 78 east, 24 north, 287 north, to 80 west and all the way to the New Jersey border at the Delaware River. Seems like a lot of jumping from highway to highway but that actually is the fastest route. Try it if you don’t believe me.
According to sources, the far west side is at a crossover by Route 94 of Interstate 80, just at the Delaware River crossing. However, it’s a bit vague and confusing where that spot actually is. We found the “one mile” marker so perhaps we should have started at that sign and worked our way back to determine the actually spot because it definitely is not marked.
US 46 changes drastically from one end to the other, as it passes through rural, suburban, commercial, industrial, and “overly clogged with everything” areas.
It parallels the Pequest River, a tributary of the Delaware River, for a good part of the way, and also crosses the Passaic River back and forth multiple times.
In Warren County it traverses Columbia, White Township, Belvidere, Liberty Township, Independence Township, Great Meadows, and Hackettstown.
There was some very old and rural sites and views in this area.
We were a tad hungry and so we stopped for a famous hot dog. Not “we” but Melissa wanted the hot dog. I was good with the French fries and birch beer.
Hot Dog Johnny’s…an 80-year-old roadside institution in Buttzville, a community in White Township. But we just couldn’t understand the hype. It’s a hot dog. With YELLOW mustard. The fries were just okay, but were not greasy at all. The pickle was HUGE but a little too DILL. Still, a definite stop if you are passing by.
Hackettstown is where US 46 actually becomes Main Street and looks like a Main Street. It doesn’t look like a highway, rather a simple downtown area in a rural community.
On to Morris County and it goes through Washington Township, Mount Olive, Budd Lake, Roxbury Township, Kenvil, Mine Hill Township, Dover, Rockaway, Denville, Parsippany-Troy Hills, and Montville.
This is where 46 began to look a little more developed commercially and was obviously more densely populated. It was in Roxbury Township that we stopped at Cliff’s Dairy Maid for a mid-afternoon snack.
Cliff’s Dairy Maid is a very popular destination for ice cream lovers. People from near and far frequent this place and you would be hard-pressed to find a way into the parking lot in the summer months. Cliff’s has the usual flavors, but is most known for the combo flavors you won’t see anywhere else. And it’s good. Cliff’s is well worth the ride for a good helping of dessert.
We were In Essex County for a very short time while in Fairfield but by then it had gotten dark. It may be a short drive but there really was nothing to see, just a lot of commercial businesses on either side of a highway.
Once In Passaic County, US 46 becomes even more densely populated with commercial businesses as it took us through Wayne, where you will find the well-known Willowbrook Mall, and Clifton that has side by side strip malls, auto dealerships, and many other businesses lining either side of the highway.
In Clifton you’ll find the old Tick Tock Diner on the north bound side. Just a few miles away in Woodland Park on the border of Little Falls is the historical Great Notch Inn, a tavern that dates back to 1798.
In Bergen County it is almost all congested highway with urban blight sprinkled in here and there as it goes through Elmwood Park, Saddlebrook, Hasbrouck Heights, Teterboro, where you drive passed the Teterboro Airport, then Little Ferry, Ridgefield Park, Ridgefield, and Fort Lee.
TRAFFIC…once we had hit Wayne, right before the Willowbrook Mall is where the traffic began. And it was backed up and VERY slow moving. Bumper to bumper, with a short break after the airport, until the end…a frustrating and disappointing end.
Much like the western end, the other end has no identifying feature. That far east side is supposedly smack in the middle of the George Washington Bridge. But, alas, there is nothing to mark that spot either and the actual last mile marker of US 46 we would see is at mile 68.5. The next mile marker would be for US 1 which, along with US 9, merges into US 46 and I guess somehow just makes it disappear.
There ARE a couple of signs that indicate that if you continue straight, onto the George Washington Bridge, you will find US 46. But no mile markers and a LOT of traffic backed up from the GW. So we took that last exit in New Jersey just before the bridge and called it a night.
US 46 has an interesting history and has been modified over the years and was even originally referred to as another highway when the US Government instituted new highway systems during the mid 20th Century. But other than a sprinkling of a few leftovers from yesteryear, there isn’t much to see or do that warrants a special trip to check something off your bucket list. Unless you’re touring the nation for hot dogs.
A great way to spend 4 ½ hours…4 ½ hours that we’ll never get back. We spent quality time together and that’s all that matters. (Melissa inserts finger into throat here.)
